Hope Lives, Sincerely, Jane Doe

- Kiara Timo

The longest living Jane Doe in America had no idea that she was living with a false identity until she was an adult. While pursuing an entrepreneurial opportunity, this Jane Doe struggled to complete the program she signed up for because the background information she provided regarding her identity was continuously rejected and she was determined to find out why. She was then met with a reality she didn’t see coming. She discovered that Symbolie Monique Smith, the person she thought she was her entire life, is a lie. She had been abducted as a child and raised by her kidnapper.

A reality that would cause most people to have a mental breakdown, Jane Doe, who goes by the name of S. Monique Smith (for now), had already endured a traumatic upbringing. So instead of lingering in a state of internal confusion, Monique remained strong, turned in her kidnapper, had her case opened by the National Center for Missing Children and the State Police, and began a journey of self-discovery. Stolen at some point between infancy and early childhood, Monique has no memories of her life prior to her kidnapper. All she has to connect the dots to who she was is the woman who took her, a now seventy-five-year-old woman who never had children and forced her into an upbringing filled with physical and sexual abuse. She hasn’t seen this woman since approximately 2008 and hasn’t spoken to her since 2009. While discussing her kidnapper, Monique doesn’t hold back, “It’s trafficking. You’ve basically stolen someone’s life and entire identity. Our l